A checked muslin dress from the 1810s

 

Made 2021

The outdoors photos are taken at Gibraltar Herrgård (Gibraltar Manor), a manor house built in the 1840s,  which is about a kilometre from where I live, next to Chalmer's University of Technology, or more precisely, their parking lot, and the former high voltage lab (which is some really cool architecture, check it out).

The inspiration for this gown is several fashion plates from the mid-1810s. It is not a re-creation of a specific gown, more a combination of elements. And the sleeves look like they do because I ran out of fabric and only had scraps to work with, combining them with broderie anglaise trim that used to be on an Edwardian corset that I made in 2004.

I plan to make this hat. Because. This is the plate that inspired me most, as you can see from the trim at the hem.

The gown, like all my clothes from this era is wholly hand sewn, as is the underwear, which isn't made especially for this outfit, but the same shift, stays and petticoat that I always wear. 

I chose to make an apron front opening, or to be honest, it just happened, since that is the way I have made most of my Regency gowns, and with my current state of exhaustion thinking is hard. So I make things up as I go along and rely on old patterns of thinking. I think that a back openign would have been more common for the 1810s, and that there should have been less gathers in front, but it still looks pretty flat in front - at least compared to the back.

The chemisette is made from a pattern in Patterns of fashion 1 by Janet Arnold, but instead of a collar with a mushroom pleated ruffle I used some vintage broderie anglaise trim that I found at a thrift store. I sewed the unembrodiered edges together with a running stitch that I also used to gather the trim, and then I sewed it to a small standing collar.
The cotton muslin for the chemisette used to be a dress that belonged to my best friend's daughter, so this is a good example of re-use in historical comstuming. 

I made the hat too, from a straw hat that I bought at a market some years ago. I will make the insane one too later, I have actually already started, just not finished it.